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Our Leadership Team
Mark Rivers, CEO
Mark Rivers is the founder and leader of Presidents of Enterprising Organizations, which is the culmination of his 20-plus years of advising and coaching top levels of management. The evolution of PEO is in many ways a natural extension of the personal and professional career development of Mr. Rivers. He began his career in New Zealand, where early sales success in the automobile industry led to new opportunities and to several New Zealand business schools using his sales model as a ‘best practice’ case study.
Moving to Canada, Mark soon developed a close network of influential business contemporaries. He built his reputation as an architect of groundbreaking models and strategies for traditional business problems, and the resulting breakthroughs for companies—in numerous industries—established Mr. Rivers a recognized leader in the design and implementation of unique sales, marketing, and strategic solutions.
Mr. Rivers founded and ran the 50 Best Managed Companies CEO Network for Arthur Andersen (now run by Deloitte Consulting), and launched the Government of Ontario’s Wisdom Exchange. He also headed for Reader’s Digest the design and implementation of the LITE Exchange (Leaders Influencing Today’s Education), helping identify, recognize, and support best practices for educators across Canada.
Mark’s work has spanned multiple industries, from construction and real estate to furniture, food, mining, communications technology, and professional services. His innovative strategic business models have routinely contributed to a minimum of 100 percent organic growth, and in doing so have nurtured for him an unparalleled personal network of corporate influence.
Leon Goren, C.A., President
Before joining PEO, Leon most recently served as President and CEO of Justwhiteshirts.com and its subsidiaries, having founded the company in late 1994. Through his leadership, the company became recognized through a number of national media publications as one of Canada's multi-channel retail success stories. The management developed a brand within a five-year period that had a recognition factor among the target audience of greater than 85% brand recognition.
Previous to Justwhiteshirts, Leon served as Vice-President of Finance and Operations for an “early stage” pharmaceutical company in Canada that went public in late 1997. His move into the entrepreneurial realm was an exciting new direction for Mr. Goren, who began his career as a staff accountant with Coopers & Lybrand in North York, Ontario. Between 1991 and 1995, he served as a Manager with Deloitte and Touche in both Canada and the US. Leon continues to be a speaker at various marketing and e-commerce events in both Canada and the United States, and is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario. In both February 2003 and 2006, Leon addressed the graduating class of Chartered Accountants at their respective Convocations.
Jenny Nicholson, General Manager & COO
Jenny joined PEO in the summer of 2001, bringing with her over 25 years of management experience. Prior to joining PEO, Jenny’s served as Executive Director of a successful member-based organization for thirteen years. Over her mandate she grew the membership by 800 percent, expanding the programs and services to meet member needs while building the organization’s profile in the community and ensuring its financially viability.
Jenny’s success in dealing with business issues and working with executives from businesses of all sizes and industries stands her in good stead for her present position. Prior to arriving in Canada in 1986, Jenny spent a decade in the publishing industry, managing the advertising client base for a number of professional and retail publications.
Mike Cooke, Presidential Team Advisor
Mike joined PEO as an advisor in February 2007 bringing along his unique experience and leadership skills. His talents as a turnaround expert allowed him to work with The Jimmy Pattison Group for over 15 years – in fact he was given the nickname “The Suitcase” living in approximately 10 different cities during his tenure. In his first 9 years he acted as the President overseeing the Flexible Packaging Group which was essentially comprised of over 5 different North American plastic companies in the food and industrial segments. When a new acquisition was made or a turnaround required, the Companies’ success were placed under Mike’s control. During the last 6 years he served as the President of The News Group, responsible for taking the original acquired Company from $250,000 in revenue to $1Billion, achieving a 10 fold increase in market share with a significant increase in profitability.
Mike has a unique leadership style – his experience has allowed him to look at things from a different perspective- be it selling beer, operating a salt mine, or performing a roll-up in the North American magazine wholesale distribution business. He has a reputation for developing a dominant market position in any business based on a realistic assessment of its unique value. He then focuses its people, systems and resources intensely against creating that value. To be able to do this in different industries, business sizes and situation is extraordinary.
Catherine Morgan, Break Through Network Advisor
Catherine joined PEO in April 2007 as one of our advisors after spending 17 years in the technology industry in a number of different roles including senior sales and marketing roles within IBM, Compaq and Hewlett Packard. After receiving her Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Accountancy from Concordia University in 1984, Catherine started her career with IBM in Montreal. She later moved to Compaq in the early 90’s as the Account Manager for Quebec and the Atlantic region, servicing accounts like CNR, Air Canada, Irving and McCain. Her move to Toronto came after a year traveling the globe for self fulfillment and returning to a position within Compaq head offices. In a marketing role, Catherine successfully put together a logistics and pricing plan that earned Compaq a position on the Federal Government product acquisitions list (NMSO).
In 1994 Catherine moved to Hewlett Packard to manage the marketing efforts for all the HP business printers. The business grew as did the responsibilities and Catherine evolved the position into a business unit leader who was responsible for over 43 million annually. Strategic hiring and mentorship allowed the team to achieve rapid growth.
More recently Catherine has been focused closer to home orchestrating a remote construction project and a one year family sabbatical to the jungle of Costa Rica in 2004-2005. Returning to Canada in a pioneering role Catherine launched the inaugural fundraising effort for T4G, a medium sized high tech company, which raised over $100,000 for Portage, a non-for-profit organization dedicated to social rehabilitation of substance abusers. This has become an annual event for T4G called “The Jet Set Event”
Catherine’s business sense and her effective team building skills will serve her well at PEO.
Mike Russill, Presidential Team Advisor
Mike joined PEO as an Advisor in October 2008. He was President and CEO of WWF Canada from 2004 to 2008 and under his strong leadership WWF Canada doubled its revenues and broadened its conservation reach into Climate Change and Freshwater. He led WWF to become the leading Canadian Conservation Organization partnering with business to reduce their footprint. During his tenure Mike became recognized in Canada and abroad as a leader in finding and building value through Sustainability. He is a member of the Advisory Boards of Dalhousie University School of Management, Green Living Enterprises and the P&G Expert Advisory Product Panel.
Prior to his tenure with WWF Canada Mike enjoyed a thirty-year career in the energy sector, with Shell Canada Inc., Petro-Canada Inc. and Suncor Energy Inc. During his 14years at Suncor he held Vice-President assignments in Strategic Integration, Business Services, and Retail. He has served on the Board of Directors of The Nature Conservancy of Canada, CS Able Ltd. USA, Pioneer Petroleum Limited, and UPI Petroleum. Mike is past Chairman of the Atlantic Petroleum Association, and the Ontario Region of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute.
He graduated from Ryerson in Business Administration and completed the Western Executive Programme and the University of Michigan Human Resources Executive programme. He is an alumnus of the Sustainable Enterprise Academy of the Schulich School of Business at York University.
Mike is married to Karen and they have three grown children. His interests include spending time at the family cottage, hiking, kayaking, canoeing and golfing.
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